t any plant names in Yiddish - YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

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XII ˘È„”È ÔÈ‡ ËÏÚÂÂ≠ÔÒ˜ÈÂÂÚ‚ È„ Ÿ ¯ÚËÎÚ˘ ÈÎ„¯Ó Calques Furthermore, hundreds of plant names in English, German, Russian, and other languages are loan-translations – calques – from the international, Latin-Greek term: for example, Mimosa pudica (German schamhafte Mimose, Russian mimoza stydlivaja, Yiddish shémevdike mimóze, etc.), Impatiens noli-tangere (German Rührmichnichtan, English touch-me-not, Yiddish rírnitl/rir-mikh-nisht-ón/nisht-rír-mikh-ón). And if they are not calques from Latin-Greek, they are calques from each other: forget-me-not, German Vergißmeinnicht, Russian nyezabudka, Polish niezapominajka, Yiddish ni(sh)t-fargés-mikh/fargés-mikh-ni(sh)tl/fargésnitl (in various textbooks)/ gedénkmirl (in the works of Moyshe Nadir and Moyshe-Leyb Halpern). Nor is this phenomenon confined to Indo-European languages. 1 The Ukrainian jablonka rajska/jablinka rajska (Makowiecki 1936: 277), the German Paradiesapfel (which also means 'tomato') and the Yiddish ganeydn-epl all go back to the international (Latin) Malus paradisiaca. There is nothing 'violent' in the transliteration, transcription, or translation of these terms. It is a most natural fact of (terminological) life. Terms from Yiddish ethnobotany Not even scientific-systematic terminology, let alone ethnobotanical terminology, consists, however, entirely of loan words and loan translations. Yiddish ethnobotany has supplied us with terms for the European elder (Sambucus nigra) – rúkhes-shtékns, shéydim-shtékns, and meshúgene gráypelekh (Khayes 1938: 296), for the glorybind (Convolvulus) – shlénderl, for the common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) – miekhblum, blínde blum, pékhbliml (Stutshkov 1950: 210; Biber 1939: 40); for the genus Amanita – meshúgene shvémlekh; for the bladder silene (Silene cucubalus) – krigelekh. One of the terms for willow is sháyne-boym (from hoysháyne >hesháyne >sháyne – 'willow twigs used ritually on the holiday of Sukkoth'). Shayne-boym has been noted in the writings of Mendele Moykher- Sforim from 1864, as well as those of A. Golomb et al. from the 1920s. Among the ethnobotanical terms in use in Palestine, khaves faygn 'Eve's figs' for bananas (Sheskin 1954) must be registered. Considering the traditional revulsion at the pig, the epitome of ritual impurity in Jewish law and life, it is interesting to note how many Yiddish ethnobotanical terms refer to the pig: kházer-bónen (among Alsace Yiddish 1) The Hebrew terms for Arenaria, Asplenium, Marsilea, Thuja, Casuarina, Alnus, Ficus, Forskahlea, Protaceae, Grevillea, Anabasis, Noëa, Chenolea, Bassia (=Madhuca), Digera, Boerhaavia, Bougainvillea, Phytolacca, Agrostemma, Velezia and many others are outright loans. The Hebrew words for Ophioglossum, Polypodium vulgare, Adiantum capillus veneris, Spermatophyta, Dicotyledoneae, Salix babylonica, Juglans regia, Morus nigra, Morus alba, Chenopodium ambrosioides, Tetragonia expansa, Trianthema petandrum, Agrostemma, and dozens of others are calques. All in all, over three-fourths of Hebrew botanical terminology are loans or loan-translations from Latin-Greek or from German — '"violent transliterations" in Samuel's words (1943).
˘È„”È ÔÈ‡ ËÏÚÂÂ≠ÔÒ˜ÈÂÂÚ‚ È„ Ÿ ¯ÚËÎÚ˘ ÈÎ„¯Ó XIII speakers); kházer-blum (in Lithuania) – 'plantain'; kházer-nisl 'acorn'; kházershe béblekh 'henbane'; kházerlekh in certain Central Yiddish areas: B´dzin, Szczekociny) – 'gooseberries'; kházer-épelekh (in Wieruszów, Poland – 'tomatoes'; in Suceava, Rumania – 'wild apples'); kházer-krígelekh and kházershe krígelekh – synonyms of kházershe béblekh. Furthermore: kházershe yágdes (in Northern Yiddish); kházershe ríbelekh (Malva neglecta), etc. A peculiar semantic change, discovered only during the past few years, occurred in the case of éylbirt (MHG ölber > éylber > éylbert > éylbirt). While it is generally known as one of the words for 'olive', along with maslíne and olív(ke), éylbirt(n) – realized in Central Yiddish as /aylbit(n)/ – it turns out, has come to mean 'sunflower' (sg./pl.) and 'sunflower seeds' (plurale tantum) in large sections of Congress Poland, especially in the Kielce-Lublin area. The common link between 'olive' and 'sunflower seeds', of course, is the production of oil, for which both are used. In literary usage, éylbirt for 'sunflower' and éylbirtn for 'sunflower seeds' is relatively rare. The introduction of botanical terminology in the Yiddish language Old beliefs never die, they merely change. Thus we hear and read that it was the Yiddish day-school movement in interbellum Eastern Europe that introduced botanical terminology. Of course, the school movement in Eastern Europe did enrich the Yiddish language with numerous loan words and new coinages for plant names, organs, and functions, but the foundation and the 'lower floors' of Yiddish botanical terminology can be found in much earlier periods. 1. Not only from such printed sources Lifshits's Russian-Yiddish dictionary do we draw botanical terms, but they are found in much earlier texts. We encounter the Old Yiddish term for 'willow' in the Seyfer Hamagid, and the Yiddish term for 'mulberry tree' in Brantshpigl (1676) and in various other sources. As long ago as 1290, one finds in a manuscript (see Perles 1887; Timm 1977) the Old Yiddish terms for 'fern', 'mountain ash', 'hemp', 'saffron', 'fennel', 'mallow', 'box tree', 'sagebrush', 'laurel', 'elder' (for which Samuel claimed [in 1943!] that Yiddish had no term), 'willow tree', 'mint', 'poppy', 'cherry', 'anise', 'rute', 'reed', etc. 2. In two books on popular medicine dated 1474 and 1509 (Bernstein 1953), we find the Old Yiddish terms for 'elder', 'walnut', 'laurel', 'fig', 'almond', 'flax', 'saffron', 'ginger', 'garlic', 'horseradish', 'pear', 'apple', 'lily', etc. Preger's Yiddish tourist guide (1650) lists 'rosemary', 'mustard', 'grapes', 'green peas'. 3. Through the centuries, Yiddish Bible and Talmud translations, exegetic literature, and popular treatises on Jewish law and custom
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